Module 1: The Audit
Before you change anything, measure everything. This module is the pre-redesign audit professionals run: the analytics deep-dive, the visitor's-eye review, and the Keep List — the inventory of what's working that the redesign must protect.
The analytics deep-dive
Open your analytics and pull the last 90 days. You're answering one question: where do the results actually come from? List your top 20 pages by traffic and your top 20 pages by conversions (form fills, purchases, bookings — whatever your number is). These two lists are the most important documents in your redesign. Almost always, a small handful of pages drives most of the results — the 80/20 rule is brutal and consistent on websites.
Now look at traffic sources: what percentage comes from search, from social, from direct, from referrals. If 60% of your traffic is organic search, your redesign lives or dies on SEO preservation (Module 4) — that fact alone changes the entire project plan. Look at mobile vs desktop: if most visitors are on phones, the redesign is a mobile project that happens to also work on desktop, not the other way around. Look at your top landing pages and their bounce rates — a page with high traffic and high bounce is a page making a promise the content doesn't keep.
Write it all down in one page: top pages, top converters, traffic mix, device mix, and the three pages with the worst bounce rates. You are not allowed to have opinions about your website until you've read its data. This one-page audit becomes the evidence behind every decision in Modules 2 and 3.
Opinions are not allowed
The analytics deep-dive, in numbers
Build brief
From your analytics: which 3 pages drive the most conversions? What percentage of your traffic comes from search? What's your mobile vs desktop split? Write the numbers.
Saved
The Keep List
The Keep List is the inventory of everything on your current site that works — and that the redesign is forbidden from breaking. It has four columns: the asset (page, ranking, review, testimonial), why it matters (traffic, leads, revenue), the evidence (the number), and the protection plan (redirect, keep the URL, keep the content). Every redesign needs one, because the default behavior of redesigns is to accidentally destroy their best assets.
What goes on it: your top 10 pages by traffic and every page that converts; your rankings for money keywords (the searches that bring buyers — check your search console); pages with backlinks from other sites (links are votes — losing the page loses the votes); testimonials, reviews, and case studies (social proof is expensive to rebuild); and anything customers mention ("I found you through your pricing page"). Be specific: "the pricing page, 1,200 visits/month, 18 quote requests" — not "the site works okay."
The Keep List is also your scope guard in reverse. When the designer suggests merging your two best-converting service pages into one "cleaner" page, you point at the list. When someone wants to rename URLs for aesthetics, you point at the list. The Keep List turns "don't break things" from a hope into a contract.
Forbidden to break
The Keep List, in numbers
Build brief
Start your Keep List: name 5 assets on your current site that work (pages, rankings, testimonials) with the evidence for each. What must the redesign protect at all costs?
Saved
The visitor's-eye audit
Data tells you what visitors do. Now find out what they experience. Run three tests. The 5-second test: show your homepage to someone who's never seen it, for five seconds, then ask: what does this business do, and who is it for? If they can't answer, your headline failed — and no redesign of the layout will fix a message problem. The phone test: do your three most important tasks on your phone — find pricing, contact you, buy. Time it. Every extra tap loses people.
The stranger test: ask three people to find one specific thing on your site while you watch silently. Don't help. Watch where they click, where they hesitate, where they give up. You'll discover your navigation makes sense to you — the person who built it — and to almost no one else. Common findings: the menu labels use internal jargon, the contact button is below the fold, the mobile menu hides the most important pages.
Score each page 1–5 on: clarity (do I know what this is in 5 seconds?), path (is the next step obvious?), trust (is there proof?), and speed (does it load fast on a phone?). Anything scoring under 3 goes on the fix list — which becomes the content brief in Module 3. Your website is not for you. Audit it like a stranger.
Under 3 goes on the fix list
Score every page 1–5
Example for illustration — not real results.
Build brief
Run the 5-second test on your homepage with one real person. What did they say your business does? Was it right? Write exactly what they said.
Saved
Tom's analytics show his "Services" page gets 40% of his traffic and most of his quote requests. His designer wants to merge it into a single "What we do" page for a cleaner look. What should Tom do?
Redesign risk estimator
See what's at stake if the redesign breaks things. Play with the numbers.
Monthly leads:0
Monthly revenue from site:0
Revenue at risk if search traffic drops 30%:0
Your turn: Draft your Keep List. List 5 assets (pages, rankings, testimonials) with the evidence for each and one line on how the redesign will protect it.
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Pull your top 20 pages by traffic and your top 10 by conversions from analytics. Put them in a spreadsheet — that's the raw material for your Keep List.
Steal this template
THE KEEP LIST
For each asset, fill in all four columns:
Asset: ___ | Why it matters: ___ | Evidence (the number): ___ | Protection plan: ___
Example: Pricing page | 1,200 visits/mo, 18 quotes | Analytics, last 90 days | Keep URL + content, redirect if URL changes
Module 1 cheat sheet
- Pull 90 days: top 20 pages by traffic, top 20 by conversions, traffic mix, device mix.
- The Keep List: asset, why it matters, the evidence, the protection plan.
- Backlinks are votes — never delete a linked page without a redirect plan.
- The 5-second test: a stranger must know what you do and who it's for.
- The phone test: do your three key tasks on a phone and time them.
- Score every page 1–5 on clarity, path, trust, and speed.